The Garden Bumble Bee Count – Join Us!

The bees are back! There’s no shortage of pollinators around our homestead. We do what we can to make this a welcoming & safe place.

When the bees come out of hiding and get to work in the garden, it brings a sense of optimism and promise for the coming harvests.

I’ve really taken an interest in bees. We are without question, a bee friendly homestead. Absolutely no chemicals are used in the gardens, not even organic approved ones. In addition to this, we also offer safe habitats around the gardens and plenty of water sources.

A lot of the habitat the bees like best, just creates itself. The wild plants and flowers in the pasture just grow wild and free. They love it and it looks pretty too. We plant many things that bees love (borage, nasturtiums and allow some vegetables to go to seed because bees LOVE that. An oregano patch in flower is a very hot bee hang out! Even our cover crops (buckwheat specifically) make the bees very happy.

The wild Bee reels from bough to bough
With his furry coat and his gauzy wing,
Now in a lily cup, and now
Setting a jacinth bell a-swing,
In his wandering…
~ Oscar Wilde, Her Voice

Tracking the bees

I though it would be educational to track, photograph and try to learn how many different types of bees we have on our property. Is it just one species or many? Are there any honeybees around? I never see any. How can I tell which bee is which?

I found a great resources called “Friends of the Earth’s Great Canadian Bumble Bee Count”. From July to August you can send in your findings to help catalogue and gather data on the bumblebee situation. There are similar initiatives in the united states and a few other countries too. They have resources to help identify different bees and tips on how to photograph them which I found quite helpful.

Why It Matters

More than two thirds of the food crops we eat rely on bees and other pollinators to successfully produce a crop. Intensified agriculture, its accompanying loss of habitat, along with the widespread use of pesticides and herbicides, has taken a toll on the bee populations.

We must not let our guard down – we must stay vigilant and insist on enforcement of pesticide bans.

Carefully select plants for your garden. Some have been found to contain chemicals that are toxic to bees. Some big box stores made commitments to sell bee safe plants. Here’s an interesting story where a gardener took it upon herself to have a wide variety of plants tested at the University of Guelph. The results were quite shocking.

A dreamer at heart, Charlotte has an emotional affinity with nature and spends much of her time outdoors. You will most often find her in the garden, tending to the animals or picking wild plants for her concoctions. In the kitchen, she always has projects on the go; brewing, fermenting, baking, cooking and remedy making. Prior to living the homesteading dream, she was the Director of Marketing for an innovative communications company, SSi Micro. With fourteen years with this company, she grew departments, managed large projects, organized people, and ran the purchasing and logistics department. Charlotte is happiest when she has her fingers in all kinds of pots, creating a little bit of disorder while making beautiful things.